


A Miracle or Two

by LollyHolly99



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Drinking, Drinking(?), Post-Undertale Neutral Route - King Papyrus Ending, Suicide Attempt, god do I love my skeleton angst, murder but not too graphic or anything, skeleton angst, what the heck else do I tag this oh god why am I so bad at tagging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-25
Updated: 2017-06-25
Packaged: 2018-11-18 23:02:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11300661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LollyHolly99/pseuds/LollyHolly99
Summary: It's been months since a certain blue-and-purple sweater-wearing human came and went from the underground, and Sans is dealing with the absence of the reset that usually would've happened by now. Papyrus deals with some things too.A dumb idea based after a King Papyrus ending that popped into my head on a whim. Kinda angsty.





	A Miracle or Two

**Author's Note:**

> me, hitting my dumb brain with a newspaper: stop!!! writing anything on a whim!!!! work on the chapters for other fics that people actually want!!!  
> my brain: no. bite me. *makes this*
> 
> as always this is probably really dumb but gOD I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF THE IDEA WAS TOO APPEALING
> 
> so yeah enjoy maybe? whatevs. <3

Miracles were pretty much nonexistent in the underground. Particularly after the escape of a certain human behind the barrier and the discovery of the king's dust. Along with them had disappeared the captain of the royal guard, the underground's robot superstar, the queen, according to those who had visited the ruins and found the remains of her dust, and the 6 human souls - the last shreds of hope of leaving the underground that the monsters had.

Amongst the collective horror of the monster race, a leader stepped forward. A skeleton, bubbling with passion and excitement, who did everything he could to please his people, to keep them motivated, to keep them happy.

One of his policies was for humans to "not be judged as all bad or all good", as he put in one of his first speeches. Humans, regardless of their actions and morality, were to be given puzzles. This was put in place, to the resounding "eh" of the people.

As if another human would fall anytime soon. As if one would even fall during the lifetime of anyone down there.

The skeleton's brother worked as his second in command, doing the behind the scenes work, taking on what he thought his brother might consider the boring side of the whole king job in a move that seemed quite unlike his usual self. It had its benefits - mostly in the satisfaction of seeing his brother able to rest once in a while, and the distraction it gave him from his own thoughts.

The life he was living took a toll on him, for sure. Not because of the hard work, but because of how he woke up every morning to the same room, the same situation, expecting things to change, when it never did.

Why hadn't there been a reset yet?

And so, as he often did, he found himself back at a particular barstool, in a particular establishment back in his home town, far from the residence he and his brother now lived in, pouring just enough ketchup down his throat to dull his senses a little, but not enough to make his little brother suspicious.

A few of Grillby's customers had been dusted by the human, too. It was unknown whether the multitude of piles of dust left in the human's wake were due to malice, or fear, or something else the monsters didn't understand. In any case, their actions were not limited to monsters of high status.

"Hey, Sansy," a drunken rabbit monster called from the other side of the room. "Workin' hard or hardly workin', huh?" she asked, forcing a laugh, a listless smile plastered on her face.

Sans didn't respond. And the bar was quiet once again. Whereas once, it had been lively, full of chatter and laughter and barking, there was barely a murmur in the room, maybe a yip every so often from the remaining canine guards.

Sans sat. And he thought. And he looked back on the times when he'd walk in and be greeted by a room filled with fun-loving, cheerful monsters, rather than the depressing scene he'd gotten used to in the past few months. A thought crossed his mind, that maybe it was him bringing the bar down, and knew it was time to drop the ketchup bottle for now.

He got up from his seat, meandering towards the door. "just put it on my tab, grillbs. see ya tomorrow, i guess."

He stepped out into Snowdin, the cold biting more than it ever used to. Stomping his way through the snow, he wandered, wanting to clear his thoughts, and not caring where he went to. He thought of nothing and everything all at once, and hoped to get himself at least somewhat mentally presentable for his return home.

He noticed after a while that his legs took him to The Ruins.

"no." he stated, looking up at the slightly ajar door. "no thanks. not today."

He turned on his feet, walking back the way he came, back to his home, ignoring the invading thoughts of the pile of dust situated just behind the door. Or more likely, lack of a pile of dust. At this point, a good month or so since the discovery of her dust, someone had to have respectfully spread it on one of her favourite things. If the new breeze blowing into the ruins through the open door hadn't already scattered it somewhere.

* * *

Soon, he'd reached new home - more specifically, the king's house, where he and his brother now lived. The smell of spaghetti filled the house; Papyrus must've been in the kitchen. Sure enough, he found his brother by the stove, cooking away.

"hey, paps." he said, a false smile returning to his face just in time for Papyrus to turn around.

"OH! SANS! YOU'RE HOME!"

"sure am."

"AND WITH PERFECT TIMING! I'M JUST ABOUT FINISHED WITH DINNER. PLEASE, DO TAKE A SEAT AT THE TABLE. I WILL BE WITH YOU IN A MOMENT."

He did so, and shortly after, a plate of spaghetti was placed in front of him. Papyrus sat across from him, digging into his own meal. Sans poked at the noodles with his fork, not particularly trying to eat any of it, his "smile" having vanished - which didn't take Papyrus too long to notice.

"SANS?" Papyrus asked, concerned.

Sans suddenly looked up at him. "huh?"

"YOU 'VE BARELY TOUCHED YOUR FOOD. IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH IT?"

"i, uh, no, it's fine, pap."

"YOU'RE SURE? I DID USE THE SAME RECIPE I ALWAYS DO, SO IT SHOULD BE OK, BUT STILL."

"yeah, nah, don't worry, bro. it's real good."

"WELL, THAT'S GOOD."

Papyrus went quiet for a moment.

"ARE... ARE _YOU_ OK?"

Sans was taken aback by the question. "w-what?"

"I MEAN, YOU HAVE BEEN QUIET LATELY. I HAVEN'T EVEN HEARD A SINGLE ONE OF YOUR PUNS SINCE, WELL... A WHILE."

"naw, no, man, everything's fine. i'm fine. don't worry."

"...SANS, I TRUST YOU, BUT I DON'T THINK YOU'RE TELLING ME THE TRUTH."

It took Sans a moment to come up with an excuse. "...it's... it's work, i guess. it's been kinda exhausting. i'm a little tired."

"THAT'S IT? NOTHING ELSE IS BOTHERING YOU?"

"nope."

"YOU'RE SURE?"

"positive."

Papyrus sighed. "I... I KNOW I ASKED YOU TO TAKE LESS NAPS, BUT DON'T LOSE OUT ON SLEEP, OK?"

"yeah, i gotcha." Sans responded, smiling weakly. He then got up from the table. "i think i'm gonna go catch some Zs right now."

"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO FINISH DINNER?"

"nah, as much as i'd love to, i, uh... 'm just not feeling too hungry today. kinda just wanna sleep."

"ALRIGHTY. I UNDERSTAND. GOODNIGHT, BROTHER! SLEEP WELL!" said Papyrus, chipper as ever.

"night, bro."

And with that, Sans disappeared to his room.

* * *

Another night, another nightmare. Tonight's was a familiar one. 

The human was back. They made their way through the underground doing absolutely nothing. Then they reached the throne room, where Papyrus was sat, and dusted him, as Sans watched in horror. But unlike his previous experiences in seeing his brother killed, he spent what felt like eternities waiting for the human to reset, unable to do anything, everything he held dear having been ripped away from him.

When at last he was released from his nightly torment, he got up, feeling even worse than when he went to bed, then shuffled out to meet Papyrus in the hallway.

"GOOD MORNING, SANS! ARE YOU FEELING BETTER?"

"much better. thanks, pap." he lied, smiling back up at his cheerful brother.

"SO! DOWN TO BUSINESS."

"hm?"

"I HATE TO IMMEDIATELY GIVE YOU WORK WHEN YOU HAVEN'T EVEN HAD BREAKFAST, BUT I FIGURED YOU COULD TREAT YOURSELF AND STOP BY GRILLBY'S FOR THAT SEEING AS IT'S IN THAT GENERAL DIRECTION."

"yeah, sure, what's up?"

"A FROGGIT JUST CALLED. APPARENTLY HE WANDERED OUT OF THE RUINS AND GOT HIMSELF QUITE LOST. I WAS WONDERING, COULD YOU GO FIND HIM AND DIRECT HIM BACK HOME?"

"sure thing, pap. i'll get right on it. later, bro."

"THANKYOU, BROTHER! I'LL SEE YOU SOON!"

The two went their separate ways, Papyrus heading to the throne room and Sans taking a shortcut to Snowdin.

* * *

Sans skipped Papyrus' suggestion of having something to eat at Grillby's and went straight for searching for the lost froggit.

It didn't take long to find him and lead him back to the Ruins.

"alright, little guy. almost there. not too much hopping left."

Then they reached the door, and the froggit hopped inside, croaking in gratitude at the skeleton.

"no prob, bob."

Sans watched as the froggit disappeared into the ruins.

...

Why did he want to follow him in? 

...

Fuck it.

He walked in. "not today", he'd said yesterday, but today was a new day, he guessed.

Wandering through the ruins, he found nothing of note. Yet he kept going further, trying to appease whatever weird force was drawing his interest.

Eventually, darkness. A room he knew. With a single beam of sunlight shining on the ground.

What was new about this room, though, was the seven humans lying passed out on the floor within it. Still breathing. Definitely alive.

Sans couldn't believe his eyes. This was a dream. A cruel dream his mind had conjured after months of lacking any optimism... but it wasn't.

He made more excuses to himself. He was deluded, this was a prank, it was a trick of the light and these were actually other monsters...

Nope.

He walked over to the nearest human, trembling in shock, and tapped her on the shoulder. She began to stir.

"h-hey, buddy, whatcha doin' down here?"

Her eyes blinked open, and when she saw sans, she scrambled backwards in surprise, panting, eyes wide and fearful.

"woah, woah, hey, take it easy. i ain't gonna hurt ya."

The human calmed down somewhat, but still looked unsure about Sans.

"you alright?"

She nodded, only taking her eyes off Sans for a moment to look at the other humans.

"good. so, uh, hey, what brings you all down here?"

"I... I'd rather not talk about it."

"what, was it some kinda... group suicide thing gone wrong?"

The human went silent, dropping her head.

"...Pretty much."

"oh." Sans said, suddenly feeling awful. Well, more awful than he already did. "sorry."

"It's ok."

"...well, uh... should we try waking up your buddies?"

"Sure, ok."

So they woke up the other 6 humans, doing their best to help them not freak out over the living skeleton before them.

"alright, i guess i should introduce myself. the name's sans. sans the skeleton. welcome to the underground, where all us monsters live."

"Monsters?" piped up the short human furthest from Sans.

"yup."

"That's... that's so surreal. I mean, I was always told monsters were just... in fairy tales, and stuff like that."

"nope, we're real as real. anyways, we've kinda got a policy on humans. we gotta give you puzzles to solve. if you'd all please follow me, i'll be bringing you to my brother, the king, so he can give 'em to you."

"W-wait, the king?" asked another human whose hair was dyed a bright red. 

"don't worry, nothin's gonna happen. he'll just wanna meet ya, is all. but first, there's some puzzles on the way. gotta have you solve it."

And so he led them through and out of the ruins, into the icy wilderness of snowdin. Soon, they reached a puzzle.

"this," Sans said, gesturing to the puzzle. "is the invisible electricity maze. i think the name speaks for itself."

The crowd looked fearful.

"don't worry," he assured them. "it's not lethal. couldn't be. my bro made it."

Suddenly, a thought crept across Sans' mind.

Seven of them. It would be so simple to kill them. Everyone could be free. Papyrus would never have to know.

It was a surprisingly appealing thought. Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to fight it.

"lemme just go get the all-important orb. stay right here, ok?"

They all nodded, murmuring to each other as Sans walked over to the nearby trees to find out the orb. Unbeknownst to them, Sans was quietly considering the quickest, least painful method he could use.

He came back, the orb held aloft in one hand.

"who wants to go first?"

The humans looked at each other, unsure, before one of them stepped forward. The first one Sans had woken up.

"Y-yeah, I'll do it."

"awesome. could you stand here please? the entrance to the maze is right here." He gestured to a spot just in front of the maze. It wasn't the entrance at all.

She moved onto the spot, and he handed her the orb. Then he stepped back, joining the crowd of humans.

"alrighty then. give it a shot."

She stepped forward.

Straight into the invisible electric wall.

It was only a small jolt, but all the same, it looked painful, made all the worse by the human getting her shirt caught on some snag on the wall, unable to pull away. The other humans looked on in horror, not knowing what to do.

The moment of panic was exactly the distraction Sans needed.

Suddenly, rows of bones appeared from the ground, impaling the seven humans, then retreated back, leaving their bodies to drop into the snow.

He had to act fast. Before anyone saw. He teleported the bodies to where the previous humans' coffins were, as well as the containers their souls had been in, and transferred the new souls into said containers. What to do with the bodies, though.... For now, he put them in the coffins, doubling them up. They were roomy anyway.

Now to notify Papyrus.

* * *

"WAIT, WHAT? THE SOULS ARE BACK? HOW DID THIS OCCUR?"

"i don't even know, man. i was just wandering round new home and checked out the basement, and there they were! just sittin' there!"

Papyrus, overwhelmed with the new information, fell back into the throne, dropping his head. He was quiet for a moment, then looked back up at Sans.

"YOU'RE SURE?"

"positive."

"...COULD YOU PLEASE SHOW ME TO THEM?"

Sans led his brother to the basement, and gestured to the containers.

"OH... MY GOD..."

"yeah..." 

The two stood in silence, simply looking at the souls. Then Papyrus spoke up.

"WAIT... IS THAT...?" He counted the souls on his fingers, then his eyesockets widened. "THERE'S _SEVEN_ OF THEM! OH MY GOD, SANS, THERE'S ANOTHER ONE, THERE'S SEVEN!"

"woah, for real? i hadn't even noticed." Sans lied.

Papyrus gripped his brother by the shoulders. "SEVEN! YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS, RIGHT?"

"we can... break the barrier?"

"WE CAN BREAK THE BARRIER, SANS!"

"damn. w-whoa-"

Papyrus had picked up his brother, pulling him in for a tight hug, practically bouncing in his excitement. "EVERYONE'S GOING TO BE SO HAPPY! I KNEW WE ALL SHOULDNT'VE GIVEN UP ON BEING FREED!!"

"heh, you sure were right, bro."

Suddenly, he held Sans at arm's length. "OH! WE SHOULD GO TELL EVERYBODY RIGHT NOW!" He then put him down, and pretty much dragged him along as he ran. "COME ON, LET'S GO!"

* * *

The news spread to almost the entire underground within the hour that the king had somehow acquired 7 human souls. Many didn't believe it, until Papyrus himself called each and every monster to the barrier, so that they could all experience the event together.

The people murmured as the king walked to the front of the crowd, floating the souls in their containers behind him in a trailing line.

He gave a speech. A speech with all of Papyrus' trademark passion and enthusiasm. The monsters cheered as he finished, and they watched on in awe as he lifted the souls from the containers... and broke the barrier.

The barrier, that had kept the monster race trapped for hundreds of years. That everyone believed was forever going to stand. That had taken a toll on the hope and joy of everybody. It had at last come to an end.

It broke with a great shattering sound, and a near blinding white light. Papyrus led his people to the surface, and their new lives began.

* * *

It had been a week since the exodus of the monsters. It hadn't gone incredibly smoothly. Many humans were welcoming and accepting, but there were equally as many who were definitely not. But, for the most part, the monster population got by.

Despite the difference in scenery, though, Sans found himself in the walls of an almost identical bar as usual, with almost the same name, with the same bartender, and the same tomato-y drink in his hand. Alone. Pretty much everyone else was celebrating the first week anniversary of their freedom elsewhere, watching fireworks and dancing and visiting the monster-friendly human-run bars. Sans silently thanked the fact that Grillby had decided to keep the place open for the night, so he could drown his sorrows in ketchup without anyone else around.

Papyrus texted him, asking if he were going to join the celebrations. Sans responded politely declined, then leaned his head on one hand again.

The bar was quiet, until at some point another patron arrived. Well, one other person wouldn't hurt.

A certain yellow lizard in a labcoat trudged in, hanging her head and taking the seat next to Sans.

"Um," She looked up at Grillby. "Just a-anything, please. I don't really care."

Grillby served her a drink, not too strong but something to try and help ease her visible sadness, then disappeared through the fire exit.

When she took a sip, Sans finally spoke up.

"so, what brings you here on this lovely night?"

"I-I could ask the same for you, you know." she responded, taking a glance at him. "I would've thought you'd be celebrating with your brother."

"nah, don't really want to hang with him tonight. so, you?"

Her gaze fell. "...A few things."

"come on, what's got you in here bein' sad with me when you could be out there with everyone else?"

Alphys couldn't muster the effort to fight his questioning, as she always did for everyone. "I just... I-I worked so hard, all this time... to try and break the barrier... I screwed up so much! S-so many times! I hurt... hurt so many people!"

Her head dropped into her hands. "...And all of that? What came out of that? Nothing! Just pain and sadness and the people I hurt who look more like nightmares than people now!"

She sighed. "I just... I know I should be happy about getting here. I am, really! I just... wish my work could've amounted to something. I wish I felt... not-awful enough to go and be with everyone else. A-and then, there's the case of... of Und... certain people... who can't even celebrate with us..."

She paused. "This is the best thing that's ever happened to all of us. Why does it feel so wrong? Am I awful for thinking it feels wrong?"

"no, that's fine. i know exactly what you mean." Sans responded, taking another swig of ketchup.

"Thank god." she said, taking a sip of her own drink. "S-so, what about you?"

He gripped the bottle tighter for a second. "i'd rather not."

"Come on, I told you! S-spill!"

"alph, i don't-"

"Therapy session, Sans!" she urged, almost smiling.

"what, you're qualified for therapy?"

"I _am_ a doctor." 

"i think that's a lil' different, doctor."

"J-just tell me. Come on. We can both feel better. Y-you never talk about anything. I think it's about time you do."

"...fine." Sans gave in, taking another large swig from the ketchup bottle. "you know... you know how the souls just... appeared?"

"The human souls?"

"all seven of 'em."

"Wh-what about them?" Alphys asked slightly cautiously, possibilities running through her head.

"how do ya think they got there?"

"I'm... not sure. I've had my theories; it's been in the back of my head ever since Papyrus told everyone we had them."

"you wanna know how they got there?"

"Absolutely."

Sans paused, took a sip, then took a deep breath.

"i was... it was... it was all me."

Alphys looked concerned now. "...E-explain."

"...i was in the ruins. i went to that spot where the sunbeam is. and there were seven humans, just lying there. all passed out. then i woke 'em up. it was a failed group suicide thing, apparently. i, uh..." He paused, physically unable to speak for a moment. "i killed 'em. brought the souls back to new home. then i told paps they were there."

He sighed. "and there you have it."

He looked up at Alphys, whose eyes were wide, her brows furrowed, a clawed hand clasped over her mouth. She slowly brought the hand down so she could speak.

"You're serious?"

"as the plague."

"...Oh my god."

The bar was entirely silent once more as the two avoided eye contact with eachother, then Alphys spoke again.

"Does Papyrus know?"

"no." Sans hung his head.

"Sans, he has to know about this. You've gotta tell him."

"what he doesn't know won't hurt him."

"Sans, he should know about thi-"

"it'd kill him, alph."

"He's officially the king at this point - he has a right to know!"

"what, the same way asgore had the right to know about your work?" Sans spat.

Alphys was stunned. Sans was, too, when what he'd said had hit him.

"...sorry."

"T-that's... that's fine. I-I... I understand."

Alphys wrung her hands together. The two were left in silence again.

"please don't tell papyrus."

"I won't."

"thanks."

* * *

Papyrus, at last, pulled himself away from the crowds and attention and pulled out his phone, dialling in a familiar number. He waited as the phone rang.

Voicemail. Again. Nevertheless, it wouldn't stop him.

"HELLO! UNDYNE! IT'S ME AGAIN, PAPYRUS! I, UM... SEEM TO HAVE FORGOTTEN WHAT NUMBER VOICEMAIL THIS IS, BUT WHATEVER THE CASE, AS ALWAYS, I HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A FUN TIME ON YOUR VACATION! PLEASE CALL ME BACK!"

He checked again that no-one was around to interrupt or ruin his message to his best friend. "ANYWAY, WE'RE ALL CELEBRATING! CAN YOU GUESS WHY?" He paused a moment, as though giving Undyne a chance to guess. "THAT'S RIGHT! IT'S BEEN A WHOLE WEEK SINCE WE BROKE THE BARRIER! IT'S BEEN SO GREAT, I WISH YOU WERE HERE RIGHT NOW. B-BUT, OF COURSE, I WOULDN'T WANT TO INTERRUPT YOUR VACATION! YOU DESERVE IT, UNDYNE! WHEN YOU ARE BACK, THOUGH, OH, I CAN'T WAIT TO SHOW YOU THE SURFACE! PEOPLE ARE NICE HERE! ... MOSTLY. SOME HUMANS ARE MEAN. BUT I KNOW THEY CAN BE GOOD! I'LL HELP THEM!"

He paused again, lost in his hypothetical plans to help humans be more accepting. Then he snapped back to reality.

"HMM... ISN'T IT AMAZING HOW WE'RE FREE NOW? I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT WHEN SANS TOLD ME ABOUT THE SOULS SUDDENLY APPEARING! I ALMOST STILL DON'T! IT'S SO NICE UP HERE!"

He smiled, thinking about how miraculous the freeing was. How unbelievable it was to hear the words from Sans' mouth that day a week ago. Then his smile fell.

"...SPEAKING OF SANS... I MUST SAY I'M.... WORRIED... ABOUT HIM... HE'S BEEN DOUBLY RESERVED SINCE THE BARRIER BROKE. HE'S GOING BACK TO THAT BAR HE LIKES MORE OFTEN. HE DOESN'T EVEN SEEM TO WANT TO LOOK AT ME. I FEEL LIKE HE'S NOT TELLING ME SOMETHING. IT'S QUITE UPSETTING."

Papyrus stared into nothingness, thinking. "THIS PAST WEEK, I'VE BEEN THINKING... MAYBE IT WOULD'VE BEEN BETTER FOR HIM IF WE'D STAYED UNDERGROUND. I MEAN, HE'D BEEN MORE GLOOMY AFTER THE HUMAN DISAPPEARED, BUT IT ONLY GOT WORSE AFTER WE LEFT. HE ACTUALLY DID THINGS, DID WORK, FOR A WHILE THERE. NOW HE DOESN'T REALLY DO ANYTHING ANYMORE. IT'S EVEN WORSE THAN HE USED TO BE."

His voice was quieter when he spoke again. "...AM I... AM I FAILING AS A GOOD BROTHER? IS THIS MY FAULT? I-I CAN'T HELP BUT WONDER IF I DID THIS. HE'S KIND OF... AVOIDING ME; THERE HAS TO BE SOME REASON BEHIND IT. IT JUST FEELS LIKE IT'S ME, YOU KNOW?"

Once more he jolted, remembering he was meant to be talking to Undyne.

"OH, BUT YOU PROBABLY DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT ALL THAT. SORRY! I ONLY MEANT TO UPDATE YOU ON THE MONSTER GOINGS-ON. WON'T YOU TELL ASGORE FOR ME? THANKYOU VERY MUCH! BYE BYE! SEE YOU SOON!"

He paused, one final time.

"AND, UNDYNE. WHEN YOU COME BACK. PLEASE DON'T TELL SANS."

* * *

Sans and Papyrus headed to the store for their grocery shopping (a large amount of said shopping consisting of spaghetti ingredients). Papyrus considered driving, but insisted they walk the journey for the sake of the exercise. He made small talk along the way.

"SO! THE OTHER DAY, I NOTICED THERE ARE KETCHUP FLAVOURED POPATO CHISPS. OR, UM, _'POTATO CHIPS'_ , WHATEVER THEY ARE."

"yeah? is that so?" Sans responded, faking intrigue.

"IT IS VERY MUCH SO! ANYWAYS, I WAS WONDERING IF YOU'D WANT SOME WHEN WE GOT TO THE STORE."

"nah, i'm good."

"YOU DON'T? BUT I THOUGHT YOU'D LOVE THEM. IT COMBINES TWO OF YOUR FAVOURITE THINGS! KETCHUP, AND UNHEALTHY, GREASY FOOD!"

"yeah, i guess they sound good. but i'll pass this time."

Papyrus frowned. "SANS, I'M GOING TO BUY YOU THOSE CHISPS AND YOU CAN'T STOP ME. I'M GOING TO TREAT YOU, BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT."

"heh. alrighty. i won't try to stop you." Sans chuckled.

"DARN RIGHT. I-" Papyrus was interruped as he bumped into someone he hadn't seen, being too focused on the conversation at hand. "OH, TERRIBLY SORRY. I- _HUMAN!!_ IT'S YOU!!"

Sans looked over at the human that Papyrus had bumped into, and the lights disappeared from his eye sockets.

It was, indeed, _that_ human. The one who'd killed so many prominent figures from the underground, destroyed all their hopes, and left, with nary a reset in sight.

They stood frozen in fearful shock, eyes flitting between the two skeleton brothers. They hadn't expected this.

"I NEVER SAW YOU AFTER OUR HANGOUT! HOW HAVE YOU BE-"

Papyrus was once again cut off, this time by Sans, who had pushed the child to the nearby wall, pinning them there, his darkened eyes boring into them. "you."

"SANS?! WHAT THE HECK?! PUT THEM DOWN!"

Sans ignored Papyrus' panicked request. "why'd you do it? why didn't you reset? _what the hell's been taking you so goddamn long_?!"

They stuttered, now unable to tear their eyes away from the empty voids of Sans' eyes - cold and desolate, yet burning with anger.

His grip on the human's sweater tightened. "do you even know what state you left us all in? did you even pick up the phone this time? did you forget every other timeline? do you realise how long you left us like that?!"

"SANS, STOP!"

Papyrus pulled Sans back, leaving the panting, shaking human to drop, falling to their knees. Then, while Sans was still restrained, they scrambled to their feet and ran away.

Sans went limp in his brother's grip, rage silently bubbling within him.

"WH... WHAT THE HECK, SANS?! WHAT WAS THAT? WHY DID YOU TRY TO HURT THEM? THEY'RE OUR FRIEND!"

"...not mine."

"WHY NOT? THEY HAVEN'T DONE ANYTHING WRONG!"

Sans watched the human disappear round a corner in the distance, hoping with everything he had for a reset. "god, papyrus, you couldn't be less right."

"WHAT? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?"

The shorter skeleton sighed a deep sigh, then began walking again. "let's... let's get home, pap. i think we gotta... talk about some stuff."

Papyrus followed, worried and confused but ultimately curious. Really - Sans? Wanting to _talk_ about _important things_?

What a _miracle_.

**Author's Note:**

> a mess? yes. me, the characters, or the fic? yes. forgive me.  
> this was. exceedingly dumb and self indulgent. why do I do these things.  
> welp now I can work on other fics that you guys have actually been asking for woooooooooooooo haha
> 
> screm with me at my tumblr at lollyholly99.tumblr.com  
> <3


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